Talk Back: May 2012

What’s your favorite part of summer?

Join our Facebook discussion and give us your answer. We’ll randomly choose one person who answers to wins a $25 dollar gift certificate to Boscov’s Clifton Park. The Winner will be announced in the June 2012 issue of life@home.

Here are some answers to our most recent question…

How prepared is your home for a potential disaster?

from our contributors:

Lee Nelson: As much as I write about this stuff, I’m bad. For natural disasters, we have canned goods and some flashlights. That’s it. For health disasters, we’re just about as unprepared, except we live in a one-story home, which makes it easy for someone with lack of mobility or a wheelchair.

Cari Scribner: I’m concerned about flooding. My house is near a creek and also downhill so it has a built-in sump pump. I got a back-up generator in case power goes out and the pump stops working. We’ve also stored away several 5-gallon containers of water, canned soup, a first-aid kit, Sterno, and batteries and flashlights.

Molly Belmont: When Irene hit, we lost electricity for nearly a week, and had to scramble to get together all the supplies we needed, including coolers, a camp stove, candles and bottled water. Now we have bottled water and lanterns, extra batteries and a cooler. We may even pick up a camp stove so we don’t have to borrow my mother’s again!

Lucianna Samu: Last year, we spent five days marooned by the floods. I devised an elaborate disaster plan soon after. So far, we have a generator that hasn’t ever worked, and a cold storage food pantry that’s stocked with paint cans. I need to get to work on this!

Caroline Barrett: Many years ago we packed up an emergency survival kit, which included things like candles, batteries, water and a first-aid kit. Over the years the kids have dug through the box and pulled out pieces of it. I think it’s time to replenish!

Jill Montag: I don’t think our home is very prepared for a disaster of any kind. We do plan on getting a generator after dealing with several power outages over the last year, so at least we should be OK if/when the lights go out again!

from our readers:

Alice: We are not prepared for a disaster. We have bottles of water for probably one day. We can take the blanket off our bed and we have extra towels.

Leslie: No. Unless you count having large quantities of toilet paper, Bounty towels and quite a few cans of cut green beans “preparation.”

Teddi: No! I have bottled water, a few flashlights, candles and canned food, but that’s about it. I also have a small emergency box with Band-Aids, antibiotic cream and an inhaler in it. I’m in denial, I know.

and the winner is…

Pat: On hand, we have battery-operated lights and radios, as well as a NOAA radio, bleach to help clean and disinfect, a saw to remove fallen tree limbs and a roof tarp. Also, we always have a first-aid kit with bandages and necessary meds; because we are outside so much, accidents happen more frequently. This may be too much info, but the bottom line is, yes, we are prepared.

Pat wins a copy of Super Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things. Read our story on the book here.